NASA Postdoctoral Program Opportunities

Astrobiology of Returned Samples

Opportunity ID	19374
Opportunity URL	https://npp.usra.edu/opportunities/details/?ro=19374
Location	Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD 20771
Field of Science	Astrobiology
Advisors	Jason P Dworkin, Primary Advisor +1 (301) 286-8631 Jason.P.Dworkin@nasa.gov Jamie Elsila Cook 301-286-9160 Jamie.E.Cook@nasa.gov Steven Charnley 301-286-9706 Steven.B.Charnley@nasa.gov Daniel Glavin 301-614-6361 Daniel.P.Glavin@nasa.gov Reggie Hudson 301-286-6961 reggie.hudson@nasa.gov Natasha Johnson 301-286-3919 Natasha.M.Johnson@nasa.gov Amy McAdam 301.614.6585 amy.mcadam-1@nasa.gov Stefanie Milam 301-614-6902 Stefanie.N.Milam@nasa.gov Joseph Andrew Nuth 301-286-9467 joseph.a.nuth@nasa.gov Eric Parker 301-614-5107 eric.t.parker@nasa.gov Noah Petro 301-614-6498 Noah.E.Petro@nasa.gov Geronimo L. Villanueva 301-286-1528 geronimo.l.villanueva@nasa.gov Kelsey E. Young 301-614-6749 kelsey.e.young@nasa.gov
Citizenship Requirement	U.S. Citizens Accepted Lawful Permanent Residents Accepted Foreign nationals who are in the U.S. at the time of application and on a valid J1 visa Accepted; Foreign nationals, asylees or refugees in the U.S. at the time of application with a valid EAD card and pending I-485 or I-589 forms Accepted. Note: At this time, GSFC does not accept NPP applications from citizens of designated countries unless they are Legal Permanent Residents of the U.S. The Designated Countries List is available at https://www.nasa.gov/oiir/export-control
Description	Returned samples are critical to gaining knowledge of the formation and distribution of complex organic molecules in space. Understanding this prebiotic chemistry enables us to understand the underlying planetary processes that are responsible for the fidelity, resilience or detectability of biosignatures. As future scientists study the organic chemistry of returned samples, they will need to understand how the compounds they detect relate to the prebiotic chemistry of the parent object and its precursors. Despite the importance of understanding the astrobiology and prebiotic chemistry relevant to returned samples, this work is generally beyond the scope of analyses by the mission science teams. Furthermore, individual ROSES awards are typically too narrow to simultaneously incorporate the necessary planetary and astrophysical background as well as to cross-compare lessons from different bodies and missions. The work here will investigate the chemical, isotopic, chiral, and spatial distribution of sample-return organics to ask our core question: What do returned samples teach us about abiotic organic chemical evolution to guide the search for biosignatures? We will conduct investigations outside the scope of current missions to maximize the value of returned samples. We will use a combination of laboratory experiments, observations, and models relevant to objects and locations of current and planned sample return missions and these include: The Artemis project will return material from potentially volatile-rich polar regions of the Moon. Samples from organic rich-asteroids returned from C-type asteroid Ryugu by the JAXA Hayabusa2 mission and B-type asteroid Bennu by OSIRIS-REx. Samples from the martian moon Phobos will be returned by the JAXA MMX mission in 2029. Samples from Mars will be collected by the Perseverance rover from the Jezero region and returned to Earth by the Mars Sample Return campaign.

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